The present invention relates generally to the shipment and storage of articles of equipment which, for purposes of defining and describing the present invention herein, is intended to encompass any relatively large, bulky article which needs or would benefit from protective packaging during shipment and storage, such as by way of example furniture, home appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers, etc.), cabinetry, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel protective bag adapted for packaging of such articles of equipment, especially furniture, during shipment and storage and a unique method of fabricating such bags. While the present invention is described herein in a presently contemplated embodiment suitable for furniture articles specifically, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to use with furniture and may find application for various other articles of equipment as above defined.
Furniture and like equipment manufacturers routinely package finished articles in protective cartons or other packaging to prevent damage during shipment and to protect the articles during storage prior to delivery to the end user. Historically, cardboard cartons had been widely used as a packaging medium for furniture and other such articles, often coupled with the use of plastic film and/or foam material wrapping the article within the carton. In recent years, specialized flexible plastic film bags have come into increasing use as an alternative form of protective packaging, particularly for upholstered furniture such as sofas. One of the benefits of such plastic bags is that transparent plastic film material can be utilized in the fabrication of such bags so that the article contained therein can be readily viewed, which is particularly helpful, for example, in locating individual furniture articles out of a large inventory in a warehouse wherein furniture may be stacked or otherwise stored to a relatively high elevation making it difficult or even impossible for workers to easily view the furniture from the warehouse floor.
However, plastic film alone, even if film of a relatively high thickness, provides little if any cushioning capability and otherwise provides only minimal protection to the furniture article contained therein. To address this problem, some plastic furniture bags are now being manufactured with a layer of compressible foam sheeting surface bonded to the inward side of the plastic film to provide an increased level of protection to the furniture article. Because such foam sheeting is opaque, the foam largely defeats the advantage of using transparent plastic film for ready viewing of the furniture contents of the bag. One version of such a protective furniture bag therefor omits the foam from an area of the bag extending along its entire length to provide a transparent window through which the furniture contents can be viewed, but depending upon where this "window" is situated relative to the furniture article when placed in the bag and depending further on where and how the furniture article is warehoused or otherwise stored, this lengthwise "window" may or may not permit viewing of the furniture contents. Furthermore, the surface bonding of the foam sheet to the transparent plastic film detracts from the use of a shrink wrapping technique to conform the bag to the shape and configuration of the furniture article. Because the foam sheeting does not shrink coextensively with the transparent plastic film, the foam tends to wrinkle dramatically upon shrinkage of the film, making the overall furniture package very unsightly. Additionally, because the foam is characteristically positioned inwardly to be in direct contact with the furniture article, friction between the foam and the furniture may prevent the film from shrinking uniformly.